Developing a collective human intelligence unit through shared learning and transferring skills; people - not only actions - are sustainable

The most recent statistics estimate world population as 6.96 billion. I believe each of us in this gigantic number has something to offer - be it knowledge, skill, experience or emotion. Imagine an open space where the offering is shared and adapted by the next human being. A management trainee in UK can teach a start-up social entrepreneur in Bangladesh simple managerial skills, while a teenage school student in Sierra Leone can teach a European high school teacher about localizing learning. If the dots are aptly connected, each of us will play a crucial role - as a friend, a teacher, a mentor and a learner - hence, collectively developing human capital. Knowledge is always transferrable and we can achieve greater social progress and peace through the sharing of this knowledge.

The action plan utilizes a social networking tool like Facebook, where we are already sharing information - and transforms it into a social mentorship tool. The information gap is closed when interested groups of people are connected with someone with more experience, and so on. This can be particularly feasible with younger groups, who often suffer from lack of guidance and mentorship - and play a critical role in shaping their perspectives as a global citizen for future. CEOs connected directly to their target markets, teachers with students - all in an open space for sharing knowledge. No mind will go to waste and create a more understanding forum for peace, globalization and diversity to coexist.

Sep 28 2011:
Kareem, thanks for responding. I actually worked with Khan Academy for 8 months on a translation project, and yes, they have some great resources. However, what I'm referring to isn't coherent with what the organization wants to achieve. The open source school software is mostly educational, while mine is mostly focused around mentorship - that exceeds the scope of education within a classroom. Shared learning or transfer of skills is based on shared interest, and that eventually creating social impact.

Here's a tested example. An accountant who wants to solely make money in life can take an additional initiative and teach someone simple accounting, i.e. basic cheques and balances. The latter, who is a learner and was inspired with knowledge decides to use this new skill to help struggling community schools to maintain their funds better, hence creating more opportunities for more children to be enrolled. Inspired, a third person - who already has such accounting skills - decides to help a local start-up to reach their targets, maybe something to do with motivating people to shift to eco-friendly lifestyles. He can also teach young, unemployed high school graduates a thing or two about keeping track of your money, using which they can get jobs at supermarkets or start their own small business. The minimal effort and nonformalization of this "shared learning" process makes it lucrative, easy to spread and surprisingly yet effectively, sustainable.

TED Conversations Archives

We’ve spent three years sharing Ideas, Debates and Questions — and learned a lot.

Now we’re going on hiatus to retool and rebuild from the inside out for a better conversation experience.